Bute vs. Pascal Agreed Upon, Dawson Fight is Out?

By Rick Reeno

BoxingScene.com has been advised that a Canadian super-fight has been agreed upon for Lucain Bute (31-1, 224KOs) and Jean Pascal (27-2-1, 16KOs) to face each other on an undetermined date, possibly at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

Pascal is currently booked to fight WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson in a rematch on May 25th at the Bell Centre, with HBO televising, but there appears to be a potential change in direction.

A package deal for Pascal-Bute reportedly involves a guarantee of $2 million dollars to each fighter and a rematch clause - but those terms have not been confirmed.

Pascal's promoter Yvon Michel, confirmed to BoxingScene that a deal has been reached with InterBox - for a Bute vs. Pascal showdown.

Michel is not ruling out the possibility of moving forward with the Dawson rematch, indicating that Pascal's deal to face Bute is not cemented on the outcome of the Dawson fight.

Michel and his team are currently evaluating their options, in terms of withdrawing from the Dawson rematch to fight Bute - or going forward with Dawson and then facing Bute. Michel reveals that a final decision will come down in 48 hours.

"What I can confirm at this point is that Lucian Bute and Jean Pascal will be fighting each other. I can not confirm when it will be held. We have a firm intention, on both sides, to do that fight. That fight is a huge, huge fight...the biggest fight ever, and not only involving Canadians, but the biggest fight ever to be held in Canada and that includes the Leonard-Duran fight that was held here. This fight has all of the ingredients to make it huge. We are at the stage right now where we are evaluating all of the implications of going one way or another [regarding Dawson]," Michel told BoxingScene.com.

"No matter what, we are committed to fight each other. Bute might fight an interim fight and Pascal might fight an interim fight. We are not [ruling] out that possibility. Like I told you, we are looking at the possibility of going straight [to that fight], but before we make a decision we want to evaluate all of the implications. No matter where Pascal-Bute will be held, the arena will be to small. We are not trying to offend anybody. We want to make a final comment [regarding our decision] in 48 hours."

Dawson's promoter, Gary Shaw, has heard the rumors of Pascal-Bute being negotiated and he is currently been swamped with phone calls from overseas media.

Shaw recently held a meeting in New York with Pascal's promoter, Yvon Michel, and the two of them discussed their May card

"I sent Yvon three emails and two phones call. I've not heard from him. I met with Yvon in New York and he guaranteed me Pascal would fight Dawson on May 25th. All of a sudden I can't reach him. Yvon always tells me how honest he is. If he's honest, then the fight between Pascal and Dawson will happen on May 25th. If he's not honest, Pascal will pull out. I would imagine that HBO would not be happy because they accommodated him with the date," Shaw told BoxingScene.com.

"[Originally], Yvon told me and HBO that Pascal needed more time to heal, and would be unable to fight in March. HBO tried to accommodate Yvon by rescheduling the fight to May 25th, so that it would also work for the Bell Center. I met with Yvon this week in New York, where he told me that [InterBox CEO Jean] Bedard had offered him a fight with Bute, and he would put Dawson on the undercard, give him 600,000 and we could bring our own opponent. I told him that I would never do that to my fighter or HBO. We finished lunch, I asked do we still have a fight, and Yvon said yes and shook my hand, and said we have a deal. I would be very disappointed to find out that Yvon has done anything underhanded. But remember, this is boxing, and stranger things have happened."

Pascal told BoxingScene that he's currently training for Dawson unless his promoter tells him otherwise.

"Right now I'm focused on the fight with Chad Dawson. I was told that Lucian Bute has [entered the picture] and he wants to fight me, but right now I'm thinking about Dawson," Pascal said.

[QUOTE=nycsmooth;13054910]Pascal turning down a title shot 4 a few xtra $$ makes no sense...[/QUOTE]
the article says they will make at least 2 million each. probably closer to 3. he probably was getting 500,000 max vs dawson.
so define few?